Various procedures may be performed to implant prosthetics in an anatomy, such as a human anatomy, to assist in regaining substantially normal or anatomical movement of a selected portion. For example, in a natural anatomy a hip joint is formed by the articulation of the head of the femur with an acetabulum defined by the pelvis. Nevertheless, due to various reasons, such as injury, age, and other deteriorations, the acetabulum may no longer articulate smoothly with the head of the femur at a particular time. Therefore, it may be desirable to replace the acetabulum with an appropriate implant to allow for substantially natural articulation of the head of the femur with the acetabular implant.
A large incision may be formed in the dermis of a patient to gain access to a selected joint, such as a hip joint, to provide the selected implant thereto. In addition, the femoral head must often be dislocated from the acetabulum to provide an implant to the acetabulum. Such procedures may cause trauma to the patient in addition to the trauma required by the procedure to implant the selected implants. Therefore, it is generally desirable to decrease trauma during a procedure required to implant a selected implant.
For example, such as with an acetabulum cup, it is necessary to implant the cup into a generally confined area, therefore requiring maximum visibility through a less invasive procedure. Therefore, it is desirable to provide instruments that allow for maximum visibility through a less invasive incision so that the precise work of the implantation can occur without increasing trauma to the patient.